Camden mayor wants to end paid leave for police union officials

John O'Boyle/The Star-LedgerCamden Mayor Dana Redd wants the city's police union leaders to return to their normal law enforcement duties.

CAMDEN — Camden's mayor is telling officials in the police unions that they have to return to crime-fighting duties.

The officers have long been on paid leave to handle their union roles.

But Mayor Dana Redd on Wednesday said they're needed back on the streets as homicide numbers rise and absenteeism on the department approaches 30 percent.

The mayor is also sending fire department union leaders back to their jobs.

Redd says the union leaders have complained that members are overworked.

But the heads of both rank-and-file and superior officers' unions tell The Courier-Post of Cherry Hill they believe the mayor's orders are retaliation for their efforts to block a plan to dismantle the city police force and replace it with a county-run department.